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A FAMILY was given 10 minutes to leave their home after learning that they were being evicted – they said their landlord completely blindsided them.
Rebecca Gray said she had just signed a lease and paid the rent for the Cambridge, Ontario home she and her family were renting but within a matter of days, they were out on the street.
A sheriff came to the home on Friday morning to evict the family, who learned that the landlord they’d been paying rent to hadn’t owned the property since January.
“I had 10 minutes,” Gray told CTV News, remembering how she had to rush to leave the home when the officers showed up.
“So all my beds, my couches, all my clothes, all my kids’ toys, all her toys, her birthday presents, their Easter chocolate. Everything is in that house.”
Gray, her partner, and her three young children moved into the home in January and signed a 12-month lease.
However, a court order revealed that Sarah Kon, the landlord, lost the property to two private lending groups just days after the family moved in.
Kon received a notice from the court that the property would be seized but the tenants weren’t told.
Gray’s realtor, Kim Butler, said her client was “completely blindsided.”
The home is now in the control of Appledale Property Management.
Butler said the property manager told her they visited the home in December and confirmed that Kon lived there.
Nobody from the property management team went back to the home after that, however, the home was listed for rent in December.
That’s when Gray signed a lease, which started on January 15.
Four days later, the court gave possession of the home to the investment groups, according to court records.
WHAT IS A FORECLOSURE?
Foreclosures can take place when lenders take control of a property after borrowers have failed to make their repayments.
Homeowners or borrowers will receive a Notice of Default by their lender triggering the foreclosure process.
Those in HOA communities can also see their homes foreclosed by their HOA for falling behind on fees meaning that even if you keep up on mortgage payments, you can still lose your home.
Before foreclosure, a HOA will put a lien on your property which then allows them to auction it to reclaim unpaid funds.
The sale price of the property can often be much less than they are worth as it only needs to be enough to cover the debts to the HOA or lender and is sold via auction to the highest bidder.
“She [Kon] knew that she was in this situation as a landlord and then she didn’t bother to call or advise my client in any way,” said Butler.
Landlord and tenant board regulations require tenants to be given proper notice of an eviction, however, because it was Kon losing the property, she had to let the tenants know.
“Notifications were sent to the house in the landlord’s name. But my client can’t open that mail,” said Butler.
Gray and her family have stayed at their realtor‘s home, in a hotel, and now at a friend’s empty home, sleeping on air mattresses.
They created a GoFundMe page that has since raised $4,500 at the time of writing.
They also had to buy new clothes after leaving nearly everything behind in their old home.
“This is Value Village clothes. I had to buy a new playpen for [my daughter] to sleep in,” said Gray.
“Things that we already have in my house that I can’t have, I have to repurchase just to live.”
PROTECTIONS FOR TENANTS
Butler said that while notice was given to the landlord, more protection needs to be made for tenants.
She wants the province to explore possible changes to its policy.
“Yes, the notice is sent obviously in the landlord’s name, but I do think that it is really important for them to actually go post notice on the door because in this case, she wasn’t living there anymore,” she said.
After the eviction, Gray claimed that Kon told her it wasn’t supposed to happen until July.
She added that Kon also said her realtor should have known that she was refinancing, however, realtors can’t access that information without permission.
“We can’t ask any of that,” said Butler. “Legally, only their mortgage broker or their bank can get that information. And we’re not entitled to that.”
Gray said that she and Butler are deciding whether or not to take legal action, however, with the family having to buy new items and find a new rental, they don’t know if they can afford it.
Things that we already have in my house that I can’t have, I have to repurchase just to live.
Rebecca Gray
“My tenant paid her first and last month’s rent. Right now, I highly doubt we’re going to get that last month’s rent back. And now she has to go and pay another last month’s rent to a new property,” said Butler.
She added that she was talking with the new property manager in the hopes that Gray would be allowed to get her things.
The U.S. Sun has reached out to Appledale Property Management, Rebecca Gray, and Sarah Kon for comment.
